Student Berates Peer for Cultural Appropriation for Wearing Poncho on Cinco De Mayo

Campus Reform/YouTube10 May 2017

A student at the University of New Hampshire was berated by one of his peers for choosing to wear a poncho to celebrate Cinco De Mayo.

Student Danique Montique berated one of her peers on Cinco De Mayo over his decision to wear a poncho.

“What’s the point of wearing a poncho? If you’re not Mexican, it’s not your holiday,” Montique shouted. The student, who identified himself as “Michael,” attempted to de-escalate the situation as his friends tried to force him to walk away. Michael instead chose instead to engage with Montique, saying, “I’d like to talk to you guys. I want to be reasonable.”

“I appreciate every culture…you can’t talk for me. You’re wrong,” Michael said when accused of cultural appropriation. “I am celebrating and I am having fun.”

“I love every person, every color, no matter what they are. I’m having fun, I’m celebrating. You’re taking this a step too far and I think you’re making too big of a deal out of it. I hope we can agree to disagree,” Michael added.

But Montique refused to let up: “This stuff actually affects people’s lives, and I don’t think you understand that. You’re perpetuating the stereotype, Michael. It’s not just about you wearing it. It’s about you as a man—a white man, who has the most privilege in this whole fucking country—knowing what’s happening in this country right now.”

As Michael left, another person with Montique told him, “Thank you for trying to have a reasonable conversation,” but Montique interjected: “No, I’m not going to thank him, he still didn’t learn anything, he’s not reasonable!”

Montique told Campus Reform: “Then the more I walked on the campus, the more dressed up people were, and it angered me. I couldn’t even go to eat in the dining halls without seeing students making a culture a costume.”

During the 2016 New Hampshire primary, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog visited the University of New Hampshire to mock college students for excessive political correctness on campus.

Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about economics and higher education for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at tciccotta@breitbart.com